Narrative:

Due to late morning arrival; fort worth center issued new clearance for arrival into iah. This is a reoccurring problem with houston center. Issuing arrival SID clearances without runway transition inclusion in the clearance. This morning the gesnr 1 arrival was issued; however center claims that they do not know which runway will be used. Both arrival transitions split at the kingwood intersection making it an illegal clearance. One arrival route takes the aircraft north of the airport; the second arrival takes the aircraft south of the airport. You have to know which way you're going!I initially attempted to clarify the clearance on multiple communications. Refused the clearance based on the lack of transition information and stated on the frequency that I would only accept the clearance as far as the kingwood intersection. On transition to houston center from fort worth center; I informed them of the same situation. Houston center would not provide a transition and I informed that we were unable to execute an arrival SID past the kingwood intersection due to the lack of a transition. Houston center controller was very indignant and could not understand my issue. I believe that the controller purposely made things difficult for us because I would not accept his clearance. Clearing an aircraft on arrival SID; however not clarifying where the aircraft is supposed to go midway through the procedure is an illegal clearance. On this single arrival into houston I was issued eight total clearances to the airport.controllers lack of understanding between a clearance that provides the full routing. It is physically impossible for the aircraft flying north of the airport and south of the airport at the same time. Aircraft FMS systems do not allow programming multiple transitions at the same time. Professionalism would be very nice in trying to solve problems without becoming irritated and using the position to make things difficult.controllers need to realize that pilots are required to refuse illegal clearances. Retraining of houston center controllers to the requirement that the transition is required for any SID clearance. It is unsafe to issue aircraft eight clearances for a simple morning arrival. It creates a situation where pilots are forced to reprogram so many times that the opportunity for error becomes extremely high. It creates doubt and thus confusion as to what is expected or wanted.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported ZHU Center issued them an 'illegal' RNAV STAR clearance because they did not state which runway transition to fly into IAH. However; the notes on the GESNR1 chart say to fly the Runway 8L transition.

Narrative: Due to late morning arrival; Fort Worth Center issued new clearance for arrival into IAH. This is a reoccurring problem with Houston Center. Issuing arrival SID clearances without runway transition inclusion in the clearance. This morning the GESNR 1 arrival was issued; however center claims that they do not know which runway will be used. Both arrival transitions split at the Kingwood intersection making it an illegal clearance. One arrival route takes the aircraft north of the airport; the second arrival takes the aircraft south of the airport. You have to know which way you're going!I initially attempted to clarify the clearance on multiple communications. Refused the clearance based on the lack of transition information and stated on the frequency that I would only accept the clearance as far as the Kingwood intersection. On transition to Houston Center from Fort Worth Center; I informed them of the same situation. Houston Center would not provide a transition and I informed that we were unable to execute an arrival SID past the Kingwood intersection due to the lack of a transition. Houston Center controller was very indignant and could not understand my issue. I believe that the controller purposely made things difficult for us because I would not accept his clearance. Clearing an aircraft on arrival SID; however not clarifying where the aircraft is supposed to go midway through the procedure is an illegal clearance. On this single arrival into Houston I was issued eight total clearances to the airport.Controllers lack of understanding between a clearance that provides the full routing. It is physically impossible for the aircraft flying north of the airport and south of the airport at the same time. Aircraft FMS systems do not allow programming multiple transitions at the same time. Professionalism would be very nice in trying to solve problems without becoming irritated and using the position to make things difficult.Controllers need to realize that pilots are required to refuse illegal clearances. Retraining of Houston Center controllers to the requirement that the transition is required for any SID clearance. It is unsafe to issue aircraft eight clearances for a simple morning arrival. It creates a situation where pilots are forced to reprogram so many times that the opportunity for error becomes extremely high. It creates doubt and thus confusion as to what is expected or wanted.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.